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Center for Economic Growth Through Inclusive Design / Center for Economic Growth Through Inclusive Design / Center For Economic Growth Through Inclusive Design / enter for Economic Growth Through Inclusive Design
UNESCO City of Design /  UNESCO City of Design  /  UNESCO City of Design / UNESCO City of Design /UNESCO City of Design /  UNESCO City of Design  /  UNESCO City of Design /  / 
Home of Detroit Month of Design / Home of Detroit Month of Design / Home of Detroit Month of Design /  Home of Detroit Month of Design / /
/ Focus On Creative Business Support / Focus On Creative Business Support / Focus On Creative Business Support / Focus On Creative Business Support / Focus On Creative Business Support 

DRIVING DETROIT'S DESIGN ECONOMY

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We connect Detroit's designers, businesses and communities through impactful programs, high-profile events, and global partnerships that strengthen our city's designation as a UNESCO City of Design.

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PROGRAMS

Client Services Boot Camp is an annual, six-session program based on the fundamentals of client service targeted to small- to medium-sized design companies and freelancers.

Client Services
Boot Camp

The City of Design Program Series is one of our key initiatives that invites designers, residents, policymakers and others to collaborate around ideas that make life better for more people in Detroit and cities everywhere. 

City of Design Programs

A citywide celebration of creativity, Detroit Month of Design gathers designers and the greater community to celebrate Detroit’s role as a national and global design capital.

Detroit Month of Design

The Design Jam brings together creative problem solvers, end users & manufacturers for a two-day collaborative design spring style workshop. Participants learn, share, imagine & fabricate adaptive products with real-world applications.

Design Jam
2025 Detroit
Month of Design

This year’s Detroit Month of Design celebrated City of Design—a tribute to Detroit’s 10-year milestone as the first and only UNESCO City of Design in the United States.

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UNESCO Creative Cities

The 350 cities around the world that make up this network all place creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their urban development plans and share a commitment to collaborating internationally in support of the a more sustainable future for all. 

Design Core stewards Detroit's UNESCO destination and champions the transformative power of design in Detroit by supporting the creative problem-solvers using design solutions to improve our city’s economy.

The United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs: 

Sustainable Development Goals

17 goals to transform our world

The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.


They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs while tackling climate change and environmental protection.

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The United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals

17 goals to transform our world

The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.


They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.

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IN THE NEWS

FEATURED PROJECTS

Our
Programs on

Press

design
design core detroit

AZURE

"Post-industrial. Rust belt. Across the Great Lakes, descriptions of American cities are almost inevitably furnished with at least one of the two phrases, conjuring up images of abandoned warehouses, broken sidewalks and empty streets. Conversely, the same terms are a prelude to the gentrifying coffee shops, boutiques and art galleries that seemingly erase the city that came before. From Cleveland and Milwaukee to Buffalo and Pittsburgh, the narrative follows the same dispiriting pattern — though nowhere more acutely than in Detroit."

Dezeen

"This year's edition of Detroit Month of Design features a number of adaptive reuse projects, including furniture made from recycled bulletproof glass and religious buildings converted into art spaces.

The yearly festival, put on by local NGO Design Core Detroit, creates programming to celebrate design projects and initiatives in the city."

UNESCO CITY
UNESCO CTY

dwell

"Detroit has roughly 72,000 vacant lots according to the city’s Land Bank Authority, and some neighborhoods only have a few houses per block. Between them are wide open spaces, many of which have become meadows after a swath of landowners sold their property to the land bank and headed for the suburbs when times got tough during the deindustrialization of the automotive industry and when Detroit declared bankruptcy in 2013.

Now, local architect Bryan Cook, principal of Develop Architecture, and nonprofit Citizen Robotics have teamed up on a concept that could help fill those empty parcels with affordable housing."

CCS News

"TDesign Core’s Annual Design Jam Challenge Tackles Inclusive and Accessible Designs

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Art and design eventx

What our community says...

We moved to the Detroit to be part of something.

Design Core has not only facilitated a community to belong to, but also exposed us to a sea of talent that we've been able to tap into.

Nicole Piach,

Digital Print Specialities, Detroit Design Network Member 

I'd like to thank Design Core Detroit and CCS for producing a remarkable Design Jam.

Conceiving and creating a new adaptive product with athletes from the limb loss community and inventive manufacturing partners from Detroit, made for an amazing experience.

Akash Iyer, 2023

Design Jam Attendee

I have nothing but gratitude for the great support, belief, and commitment to their members success, that Design Core has shown us.


No-one can be sure what to expect from this upcoming year but one thing is sure, success is in there. 

David R. Medina Alvarez,

Detroit Design Network Member & Detroit Month of Design Alum

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